


Lean Into It

by RichmanBachard



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Because It’s Best, Chess, Fluff, Force-Sensitive Finn (Star Wars), Friends to Lovers, Friendship/Love, Love Confessions, M/M, Minor Old Republic Love, Nervousness, Post-TRoS, Teasing, Very Mild Spoilers?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-25
Updated: 2019-12-25
Packaged: 2021-02-24 16:40:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,758
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21961090
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RichmanBachard/pseuds/RichmanBachard
Summary: Amid a game of Dejarik practice, feelings become unveiled.
Relationships: Poe Dameron/Finn
Comments: 6
Kudos: 188





	Lean Into It

**Author's Note:**

> This one is for you, Oscar Isaac.

_“This is ridiculous.”_

Poe’s calloused fingers rubbed across the breadth of his forehead, his eyes overlooking the board and the holographic creatures which adorned it. The game had gone on, by his sharp estimation, for a solid half an hour. Precious time. With his patience wearing thin, his lips pursed. Poe’s eyes moved to briefly meet that of his opponent.. his friend. Finn smiled at that, an expression so earnest despite the slight, devilish glee that was his evident upper hand. It was a good look for the former trooper, something which was once in short supply, now being the exact opposite. In the wake of the Final Order, some semblance of normalcy had returned - and with that came stability, even a sliver of justice. There was much to cleanup, pieces to recover again and again. The fight was tiresome but the end result always worthwhile. They would work to ensure such poetry would rhyme no longer. It was time for a new verse. He knew that.

Sometimes, though, Finn just needed to unwind. No one understood that better than Poe. The two were always good at understanding each other, even if it often seemed like the opposite was true, to most.

Given how close the two were in recent months, as proper crew of the Falcon now, that bond had only deepened, making it all the more apparent. When Poe was not tripping over the latest droid in their midst, he would find Finn slumming it up with Klaud. Or Rey. Whenever he spoke to her, Poe thought back to the mystery behind what he might’ve told the Jedi, then, but had not. The curiosity gnawed at him. 

Poe wanted nothing more than to clear his mind, focus on the present moment. But every look he gave had only deepened the need to ask.

Finn briefly had his clasped hands against his mouth, his mind deep in thought. Again, he shared a certain look with Poe. “General,” he mumbled.

Poe’s eyes narrowed. “General.” 

Finn then made his next move, one of the bulkier creatures swiping at his opponent. What followed was two of his forces getting cut down to size, but finding victory anyway as his final pawn doubled-back and seized the upper hand. One, two. A series of bludgeoning strikes and a broken back, and Finn clapped his hands once in a resounding win, faintly whispering a labored _“Yes.”_ to himself as he did so.

Conversely, Poe was much less subtle, sighing aloud as his cursed. “How am I gonna beat Chewie when I can hardly beat _you?”_

Finn shrugged. “It’s the-“

Poe pointed a sharp forefinger. “Don’t you _dare_ say the Force, dammit! Don’t you play that card.”

Finn smiled again. “Card, you say? Would you prefer we play.. Pazaak?”

“Oh.. oh, Pazaak? I’d mop the _floor_ with you if this were Pazaak.”

“Uh-huh, uh-huh.” Finn chuckled faintly. “I’ll believe it when I see it.”

“As co-General, I order you to let me show you.”

“As co-General, I don’t have to take orders from you.”

The two held each other at their words, as sharp and commanding as they were laced with snark. An intense look between them, a chessboard eager to continue its game.

Then, all tension deflated as the men shared a light chuckle. Poe set the next round up. Once more, their holographic warriors littered the grid, ready for endless combat. In spite of that mindset, something pulled at Poe - the need to make good on his query at long last. “Hey.. hey, random I know, but.. you never did say what you were gonna tell Rey, huh..?”

Finn’s look of growing annoyance despite his focused attitude was hard to deny. “Don’t try your tricks, Dameron, I-“

“No.. I’m serious. What gives?”

Finn let slip a soft exhale, his irritation building already. “I’m trying to concentrate.”

Then came the ask, as direct as ever. “Do you love her?”

Finn’s eyes widened, his concentration now a mess. “What..? No! I mean- yes, I love her, and maybe I felt, I mean- I don’t know, I mea-“

“Slow down, partner. It’s okay if-“

Finn held up a hand, halting Poe’s series of words from continuing. “The Force, it’s.. it’s something that’s.. in us all, right?”

Unnerved by the sudden change in topic, Poe shrugged his shoulders. “Uhm.. ..I guess. That’s what Rey says anyway. Me? I.. ehh- it’s-“

“I know, I know. It’s.. it’s crazy, but I feel..” Finn readjusted in his seat, the cramped space of their little game-hub becoming a thing to possibly expand upon later. Finn wetted his lips, desperately trying to articulate what he felt. “I’ve.. I’ve felt a connection, all my life, like.. like a pull, like I’m drawn towards it. I think.. I have it?”

Poe deadpanned. “You just said we all have it.”

“No I know but I think I have _more_ of it!”

“What the hell does that even mean?”

Finn sighed. “See, this is why I wasn’t gonna tell you. I knew you’d react like this.”

“Oh, really?”

“Besides,” Finn began to tease, “the way that bounty hunter caught your eye again, you seemed to not care much after that.”

“Well, I still do!”

“Me too!”

“Good!” 

Their game was officially put on hold before it ever truly began again. Poe took a sigh, allowing himself a moment to refocus. “Finn, I..”

The pilot moved, beginning to shift across his seat, sliding closer towards the co-General. “Listen, Finn-“

“I’m just scared,” the trooper admitted. “Scared and.. and stressed, and my entire life has been that and I just want it.. I want it to be something else.”

When Poe spoke, he spoke with such an earnest, heartfelt candor that Finn felt as though he would choke from the comfort. When Poe spoke, it opened his eyes. Three simple words. “So do I.”

Finn looked his co-General in the eye, staring deeply into the pilot’s soul. Over a short few years, the stormtrooper’s life had completely shattered and was promptly rebuilt, piece by piece, slowly. Saving someone he felt needed saving, subsequently being saved _by_ him, being captivated by him, thinking the man was dead and then, to Finn’s delight, finding that he was not. 

When Ren struck him down, the jacket Poe gifted to him had been put through the ringer. He wore it still, for a time, but stashed it away not long after. _Safe-keeping,_ Finn admitted. But that admittance told only half the tale. 

He loved him, of course he did. But his life as a trooper burdened him evermore, his every waking moment. He never had time to ponder love, or a connection like it. The strands of his squad were one thing, but the situation was disingenuous enough that he could let it go.. mostly. He carried with him enough guilt and neuroses to make a blurgg buckle. 

“Poe, I don’t know if-“ Finn’s world changed in an instant as his lips were pressed against the hotshot pilots. Upon contact it was.. awkward. Again, Finn was never good at such things, Rose learned that much, but he leaned into it. That was how the Force worked in his eyes: leaning into things; the moment, the wave, the feeling.

Rey would almost certainly protest that definition, but she wasn’t there. 

Poe pulled away, quickly, already regretful in his advance even as he remained courteous in his movements, breathing a small sigh. The blush upon Finn’s cheeks was noticeable, cute. “You’re no Zorri,” Poe quipped in reference to his lack of skill. “But.. we- we can work on that.” An awkward silence began to fill the limited space between them. Poe cast his eyes from side to side, until returning to Finn’s almost distraught sort of gaze. “Can I.. can I ki-“ Not one to be outdone, least of all by him, Finn yanked Poe into a kiss of his own. A much more heated, sloppy display. It was not strictly speaking good, but he had the spirit. 

Finn always had it where things counted most.

Poe smiled against him upon breaking the kiss. “Long time coming, I think.” It was sudden, heated, probably a bad idea. But Dameron needed to execute a bad idea every now and then. Call it a safety valve.

“I.. I guess so- Poe, I-“

“It’ll be okay.”

Finn nodded slowly, taking in his words of comfort bit by bit. With a labored sigh his hand rubbed across the top of Poe’s tentatively, before he slightly pulled away. “You’re right.” 

Before the two could embrace once more, they looked over to see Chewie staring at them from afar. His eyes a narrow and curious sort. 

Poe deadpanned. “We’re practicing. To beat you.”

Finn blushed. “Y-Yeah.”

With an almost satisfied look, the Wookiee continued to carry the load of parts and supplies in his midst, BB-8 hot on his trail, already bumping into the walking carpet with avid glee. With a soft growl the droid sped off, and Chewbacca moved away from the scene. Poe and Finn couldn’t help but laugh. At the situation, at themselves. After a few short years, the two had come far. Finn didn’t know what exactly they were now but he couldn’t care less. With his goals, his friends, the advent of his connection to the Force, and Poe - he felt like anything could be possible.

He loved Poe, because the pilot could render him capable of believing that it always _was._

“Tell you what,” Poe offered. “How’s this: I win a game of Pazaak, I’m there with you to help tell Rey about your connection to the Force.”

“And if you lose?”

Poe paused for a small second. “I’m there with you to help tell Rey about your connection to the Force, but I don’t talk as much.”

Finn smiled. “You’re on.”

As Poe struggled to shimmy back over into his spot, a thought occurred to Finn. “Hang on, w-wa-w.. wait, wait, you’re just using this as an excuse to get outta Dejarik practice!”

Poe rolled the accusation around in his head longer than Finn had expected. “You’re right. But, also, isn’t this more fun..?”

Finn rolled that around in his head about as quickly as Poe expected. “It is.“

The pilot grinned, motioning his hands in a half-hearted shrug. “See? I’m right sometimes. Just think about how cool of a Jedi you’ll get to be.” He paused. “I smooched a Jedi?”

Finn did a double-take. “Sure did, spice smuggler.”

“Okay, now listen here-“

And like so, the game between them began anew.

**Author's Note:**

> Follow [@RichmanBachard](https://twitter.com/RichmanBachard) and [@RichmanSFW](https://twitter.com/RichmanSFW) to keep up with my stories, my commission info, and my insanity.


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